Paris St-Germain (PSG) have been left seething at confirmation that Alex Ferguson visited the Brazil team hotel last week in his attempt to persuade Ronaldinho to shun La Liga in favour of a move to Old Trafford. Dominic Fifield reports from Lyon.

The United manager broke off his holiday in the south of France on Thursday morning to meet the Brazilian forward in Paris before Carlos Alberto Parreira's side travelled here for the Confederations Cup game against the US on Saturday.

The PSG president, Francis Graille, had refused to meet the United chief executive, Peter Kenyon, earlier this month with his club's official stance remaining that the 23-year-old Brazilian is not for sale. Ferguson's meeting technically constitutes an illegal approach similar to those which so enraged PSV Eindhoven prior to United's purchase of Jaap Stam and Ruud van Nistelrooy.

Graille is due to meet his Real Madrid counterpart, Florentino Perez, here today, to discuss Ronaldinho's future. These talks were arranged up front with PSG, who are privately furious by what they perceive as an underhand approach by Ferguson.

Ferguson should complete at least one transfer this week with Cameroon's Eric Djemba Djemba due to complete a £3 million move from Nantes.

Meanwhile, George Best says Ferguson has made "a monumental mistake" selling David Beckham to Real Madrid, and describes the deal as a "shambles" for the Old Trafford club.

"It just makes no sense at all," he said. "The whole thing is a shambles and I would be spitting blood if I were a United shareholder. David's transfer is a bad deal - and one that hands United's best asset to their biggest rivals in Europe."

Finally, Joe Kinnear, who has won a telephone poll among supporters over other candidates, is expected to return to Luton as manager today. Guardian Service